FERNDALE – Residents can now burn fires in their backyards in patio fire pits and campfires.

The City Council on Monday night overturned a longtime ban on backyard fires in response to the popularity of chimineas and fire pits following a report by Fire Chief Kevin Sullivan.

“There is a desire to do this and there is a safe way to do it,” Sullivan said.

The new law allows for fire pits and campfires for residents who pay a one-time $25 permit fee.

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The ordinance requires the fires to be at least 15 feet away from the nearest structure on a resident’s property and no less than 20 feet away from a neighbor’s house. Fire-pit users also have to have a garden hose and a one-gallon bucket of water – or a fire extinguisher – on hand when burning fires.

Though residents can burn fires between 11 a.m. and 1 a.m. under the new ordinance, they are allowed to burn only clean wood. That means a prohibition on burning any treated wood, brush, yard waste, leaves or other combustibles that create airborne toxins or ash.

“We really looked at it from a fire safety and health perspective and tried to put things in the ordinance that would minimize any safety hazards or nuisance,” Mayor Dave Coulter said Tuesday.

Fire officials have said they were responding to a large number of fire-pit blazes and putting them out with garden hoses under the older ordinance that banned all such fires.

“The bottom line is that (fire pits) are incredibly popular and with the new ordinance I think we are responding to an overwhelming desire in the community to allow them,” Coulter said.

Some residents had earlier urged the city to change the law to allowing for fire pits.

Councilman Scott Galloway, the only council member to vote against allowing fire pits, said residents with smaller lots will not be able to burn fires under the new ordinance. Galloway said he was also worried that even clean-burning wood may create problems for neighbors who might be sensitive to any kind of smoke.

Resident Sharon Hinman told council members Monday night that she already has problems with people burning fires in her neighborhood.

“There is too much smoke and too much smell,” she said. “It is causing smoke damage to my home and it is a nuisance,” Hinman said.

There are nuisance provisions within city law that will allow fire officials to address complaints by neighbors of fire-pit owners, officials said.

“We will be able to write citations or just pull a permit” when there are problems Chief Sullivan said.

If a fire is triggering an actual medical response such as asthma at neighbor’s house, Sullivan said fire officials would respond to such a complaint and require the fire be extinguished.